just a kiss
by twitchy witchy girl
Summary: He's turning 21 and needs a bride. She hates the royal family and she's a peasant. he thinks she's pretty, she can't  won't  stand him. It's a love\hate Zutara thing
1. Chapter 1

**Just a kiss**

**AN**: okay, this fanfic will be set in **one location but in two sections, the slums of the fire nation, and the fire nation palace. **

The character ages are as follows:  
><strong>Katara – 19<br>Zuko- 20 going on to 21  
>Azula - 19 <strong>

**Slums of the Fire Nation**

The parade was going on; it was in honour of the royal family. Apparently, this year was huge, because the Fire Lord and his children would be making an appearance to the locals. Katara hated it. She was not a fire nation citizen by birth, oh no, she was living with her brother and his wife, after her parents died four years ago.

Katara crouched low at the shadowed mouth of the alley way. She watched the parade, and hated the thought of those creeps riding around the streets, flaunting their pompously delicate faces to the crowd and rejoicing in their own self importance.

She was content to sit right there and not care, but she was getting late for her new job, and her boss, was a real dumbass.

She straightened up out of the crouch and tried to manoeuvre herself through crowd filled streets. She was almost through one section, when she saw a little girl run across the street, and komodo-rhino heading straight for her. The rhino reared and nearly struck her; Katara ran and managed to grab the girl just in time. The rhino's hooves went down hard on the spot that they were standing on. Katara turned to glare at the man leading the rhino, as she turned around, she saw the curtains of the prince's palanquin shift, and she was greeted by smouldering amber eyes. They stared at her for a second, and then they disappeared. She looked away and dashed down the next gap she could find and hurried on to her probably already fuming boss.

A few minutes later.

Katara pushed through the back door of the restaurant she worked at. As she expected, her boss was standing there giving her the evil eye, after a straight minute of awkwardness, he walked away and she sighed. That was close.

She picked up her apron and got busy. Today was gonna be one of those days.


	2. Chapter 2: one of those days

AN: this is Zuko (earlier during that day.)

Prince Zuko woke up and stared at the red ceiling of his room, he sat up, and rested hi s arms on his knees when a fluttery knock sounded at his door. He grunted an approval and a maid opened the door timidly and spoke quietly. He paid very little attention and said that he would be ready in about an hour. With that, the maid bowed and closed the door.

Zuko sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. Today was that stupid parade, and he had to spend the day sitting in a bloody palanquin and wave at people. He hated it.

He stopped thinking about it and decided to get ready. He stood up and lazily walked to his private bathroom, and got clean. He stood in the water and savoured the feel of it. Then he went on bathing until he was satisfied. He dried himself off and walked back into his room, there he picked out armour and dressed. He refused to be aided with dressing himself; he thought it stupid and degrading.

He checked to see that he looked decent and headed down for breakfast. He wasn't surprised to see his sister down already, and also wearing her armour. She sneered at him continued. Zuko glared back. His sister was a pain, a plotting, cloying, evil pain.

Zuko sat down and ate what he wanted, then he and Azula were greeted by their father who just strolled in.

Ozai sent a small smile his daughter's way and a scowl to his son. He announced that they had best get leaving, because they had a long day ahead of them.

With that, they all left and made their ways to the palanquins. Zuko got in and mentally prepared himself for the long torturous day. The route for today was one that took them around the whole of the city. Today was a scorcher and he already began sweating in his armour.

A few gruelling hours later.

Zuko had had just about enough of this stupid parade, when something or rather someone caught his attention. It was a little girl running across the street, right in front of the rhinos. He was about to call them to stop, or get out himself, when a flash of tan and red swiped the girl off the street, an don to the other side. I wanted to see who rescued the girl, so he drew back the curtain slightly and peeked out at the person. It was a she, and she wasn't bad looking, no, not bad looking at all. At that moment, she turned around and caught his gaze. Her eyes were bluer than the sky, and were intense with fury. The intriguing thing is, she didn't flinch or turn away from his gaze.

He looked a little longer, and then closed the curtain. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the lady rush across the street, and disappear into the crowed.

Never in his life had he seen such blue eyes in his life. He quickly dismissed this thought, as it would get him nowhere.

He turned to the front and chose to contemplate the lack of clouds. This stupid show would be over in about and hour, then he could go back and practice his fire-bending. He tried to comfort himself with this thought, then he remembered the feast that was to be held tonight for the ambassadors of the other nations, he let out a frustrated huff of air and folded his arms petulantly. Today was going to be one of those days.


	3. Chapter 3: can't win em all

**Katara's POV**

I walked around, taking orders, and sending them to the chef. Today was busy, and the people were getting testy, but as you know, "the customer is always right!" Ah well, at least I don't have to baby sit.

It was a while, before I had my break, but, when it came, I dashed out the back door and headed home. I live not very far from the restaurant, so more often than not; I eat lunch at home then go back. If anything, its good exercise.

During my homeward bound stroll, I let my mind wander. A bad idea, but I was bored. My mind wandered to earlier today, and it lingered on the golden direct gaze of the Prince. I couldn't look away; I know that to look straight into the eyes of any of the royal family, was to wish death upon one's self. I stared at him anyway; I tried to keep my gaze cold and direct. After a while, he turned away.

That part made me uneasy; I saw nothing cold in his eyes, only the pride of a prince.

I didn't get to carry on that thought, because I was already at home, and by the sound of it, the baby had woken up. I jogged through the door to find Suki cradling Shusaka, her son. She was trying to hush him, but he kept crying. She saw me standing there and gave me a long suffering sigh, and asked, "A little help would be nice," I smiled and went over and took the baby from her, I smiled at him and started baby talking. He stopped crying, and settled for looking at me like I was crazy, it's better than having him screeching and crying.

Suki looked dead tired; he (the baby) must have been up for a while.

She turned to me and said, "Thanks, how was work?"

"Not bad, I have to leave in a bit though." I felt bad for leaving.

"So soon, I thought you were staying for lunch?" she sounded hopeful.

"I was, but I have to be back quickly, today is busy, you know with that stupid parade going on?"

"Oh right, well, thanks for the visit, see you later. Be careful when you're walking home!"

She always says that, and I always say ok.

Walking to work (again)

I walked along, and hummed an old lullaby. The melody was sweet and simple and reminded me of my mother and home. I missed the frostbitten breezes of the South Pole, and the people from my village. They were always warm and friendly; it was like having a huge family, everyone up in each other's business, and nobody caring about petty things.

It's not like here in the fire nation, everyone, okay, almost everyone by default, has a massive superiority complex. And the weather is hot, but I don't mind that so much, it's nice to be able to walk around outside, without fearing frost bite.

All too soon I was back at the restaurant. I got ready and went back to work. I walked to a table that seated a considerably good looking guy; I smiled and asked if I could take his order. He smiled back at me and I saw that he had a few well used smile lines around his deep brown eyes. Then he spoke in velvety voice, "Sure, just some jasmine tea, please." I wrote it down and hurried off to the kitchen. He seemed really nice, plus I'm a sucker for brown eyes.

I got his tea and went back to the table; he sat there and smiled when he saw me coming back. My heart fluttered. I set down his tea and he thanked me, before I had turned around he was joined by tall green eyed brunette. I smiled at his companion and asked if he would like to order anything. He said no. I walked away and tended to my other tables. Mr Brown eyes got up, and went to pay at the counter. He and Mr Green eyes left holding hands. At that point in time, I felt really, really stupid.

Well, you can't win them all.

The day carried on uneventfully. After the last customer had left, we had to close up shop. We all left and I decided to take my time walking home. Somehow, I still made it back under ten minutes. I pushed through the door, and found my brother sprawled on the floor, with their oldest son Shen sitting on his back, and his second son Kuzon running around claiming that he was the Blue Spirit. Suki was holding Shusaka and stirring a pot. All in all, everything seemed normal.

When the boys saw me, they stampeded toward me screaming bloody murder, and hurled themselves at me! Family, I love them.

Sokka got up off the floor made his way toward me.

"Hey, you're back, how was work?" He asked me with a tired smile on his face.

"Same old same old, however I did meet this really cute guy."

"But…"

"He has a boyfriend."I said that bit with a shrug.

We were speechless for a moment, then he and I burst out laughing. Suki heard the commotion and came to check on us. I told her the story, and she too, burst into hysterics.

"You sure know how to pick 'em Kat." She spoke through tears.

I laughed at her then stuck my tongue out at her.

Today was turning out to be fun. After ten minutes or so, we sat down to supper and discussed our days.

Sokka's woes of his day at the engineering plant offered us a good laugh.

Sokka is a genius, but he is also very clumsy at the best of times. This combo always makes for good stories.

After supper, they tucked the kids into bed, and we chatted for a while, then, we decided to get an early start, so we went to bed too.

Tomorrow would hopefully have a better start than today. With this thought fresh in my mind, I lost myself to the world of dreams, where I was visited by a pair of golden eyes.

**AN: I don't really write gay pairings, but I was feeling excited and crazy today, so there it is. Cookies to whoever can guess who the two lover-boys were.**

**Thank you to: **

**Pinkypinkypinky for being the first to review.**


	4. Chapter 4:dancing, big whoop

**Zuko's POV**

We got back to the palace after a few hours, and Azula and I were instructed to make ourselves presentable for tonight's feast. We were then sent to our rooms to relax and get ready.

Tonight was basically a set up for all the nobles and royals, to throw their daughters, sisters, nieces etc. at me so that I could pick one of them for a bride. I felt like I was being thrown into a pit of spitting cobra tigers.

This was a ploy to get me married before my 21st birthday. My birthday is 3 weeks away. But I'm expected to choose a bride before the time. I'm dreading it.

I was determined to stop thinking about it, so I tried fire-bending.

I went through all my forms til the sweat poured down in buckets, and my muscles screamed at me in agony. I finally sat down in a meditation position and closed my eyes. I felt like a million bucks.

I don't know how long I sat like that, but I was snapped out of it as I heard footsteps approaching. It was one of my father's messenger boys; he came closer, but stopped when I looked at him.

Timidly he spoke, "Prince Zuko, your father, Fire Lord Ozai, wishes for you to be ready for the banquet in an hour."

Oh shit! I had completely forgotten. "You may inform my father that I shall be ready within the hour."

With that, the boy bowed and left quickly. I got up and moved across the courtyard, making my way back to my room. I wasn't surprised to see the group of servants gathered outside my door, they were sent to help me get ready, I wasn't in the mood to fight them off today, so I allowed them to play dress up, then when I felt like I was as presentably as I could possibly be, I sent them away.

I looked at my reflection in the full length mirror, and sighed. I looked like a younger version of my father, minus the long hair, freaky beard, and the insane glint in his eyes. For this I was grateful. There's only so much genetic likeness a person can have.

Further contemplation was impossible, due to me being lead to the banquet hall door, where we were expected to make an entrance. I arrived in time to see Azula fidget impatiently with the hem of her sleeves. She hates these gatherings as much as I do. She however was always the better pretender, so she carried her contempt better than I.

She saw me and stopped fidgeting long enough to give me a grimace. This however was cut short by the weird fanfare that sounded, as the doors opened and Azula and I walked out according to our titles.

I was greeted by the sight of hundreds of colourfully dressed girls swooning and my father sitting buddy buddy with delegates from all over the world.

Azula and I made our way to our respective seats beside my father. As part of the happy family façade, I sat at my father's right hand, and Azula sat at his left. The evening commenced, with my father greeting everyone and initiating dinner.

Who knew it would be creepy eating while a huge flock of girls were critically analysing your every move?

I tried to make conversation with some of the guests, and that proved to be a bad idea because they headed straight for their daughter's etc. best qualities, and what lovely girls they were, and so on and so forth.

Dinner was longer than I had previously anticipated. Dinner eventually ended, and the dancing began.

I started off standing unobtrusively against the wall, trying very hard to blend in to the décor. Unfortunately, I was spotted and asked to dance by girl dressed green.

She smiled and introduced herself as Jin Lee, daughter of Wan Lee, a nobleman from Ba Sing Se. she was very pretty, she had small face, with delicate features, and beautiful doe eyes.

She spoke very little, and was very shy. The song ended, and another girl took her place. This girl however, was someone I knew. TyLee is one of Azula's friends, and right now, she was a mass of hot pink. Her eyes were big and brown, and they sparkled with excitement.

We danced for a while, and then another girl took her place.

The night carried on in that fashion, nameless faces, and tuneless songs. I was at that moment dancing with a chatty amber eyed young lady, when we were interrupted by an old friend.

Mai

Four years ago, I would have been glad to see Mai, but right now, it was just awkward. She stood in front of me, a vision in black. She very rarely showed emotion, but right now, she had a small smile on her lips. It suited her.

"May I cut in?" Her tone suggested it was more of an order, than an actual question.

The girl I had been dancing with looked at Mai and gracefully let me go.

"Mai, it's been a long time hasn't it?"

"Hmm…"

"Well, shall we?"

"Yes."

I lead her to the floor as a slow song started. We started dancing, and chatted vaguely about her life in Omashu. She looked up at me, and her eyes pierced my mind. They were as sharp as the blades she wielded. However they weren't blue. This thought struck me forcefully from out of nowhere.

I stared at her as we swirled around the room. She said that her new life was boring, and that she missed home.

I tried to sympathize with her, but I had nothing to say, so I opted for an understanding, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

It was weak, but I didn't know what to say. That's why we broke up, it just became too much effort to understand each other.

The song ended, and I realized that, that was the end of the dance. A quick look around the room confirmed my suspicions; the guests were preparing to leave, finally.

The last guest left, and I disappeared to my room. There I changed and tried to fall asleep. I didn't have to wait long; I was greeted by dreams almost instantly after my eyes closed.

My dreams were a sea of expressive blue

**AN: okay, the answer was Jet and Haru, congratulations to SnoopyGirl213 for getting it right.**

**Okay, that will be all. I will try to update soon.**


	5. Chapter 5: fired 'n hired

**Katara's POV**

I woke up, to the sound of cart being wheeled along the road, and storeowners screaming their wares to people passing by.

This shocked me to full consciousness; not again. This time, I was sure to be in trouble.

I got ready and changed in record time, bolted down the stairs. I screamed good morning and made a break for the door. I ran along the road, and nearly collided with an old man selling cabbages.

I apologised hurriedly, and made my way to the restaurant. I made it there, just in time to see my boss's face turn purple, and him scream, "YOU'RE FIRED!" I tried to explain, but he wouldn't listen.

Feeling humiliated, so I left with what dignity I had left.

I strode from my ex-job, and went for a walk to clear my thoughts. I found myself wandering through the market. I like the market, it's loud and busy, and you find something exciting at every corner.

I walked on for a while, and ended up walking along a paper-lined wall. I have idea what drove me to come here, but come here I did. I saw a small piece of paper pinned to one side of the wall. It was thick and had a delicate gold trimming. It read:

"Help wanted, any hardworking, honest young ladies in need of a job; report to the palace at one hour after midday, on the third of this month."

I looked at the sign and read it over again. Today was the third, and it was just a little after midday, I was a hard worker, and I didn't lie. Before my resolve could dissolve, I headed for the palace.

I took not three steps, when I realised that I didn't know how to get the palace. I stopped to ask someone for directions. The person I asked happened to be going that way too; she was a small, old lady who looked vaguely like my grandmother. She told me to call her Aunty Lin.

I told her my name and she asked me my details. I don't know why she did, but I answered her questions anyway.

I don't know how far we walked, but before I knew it, we were being led through the palace gates.

That place is huge!

I stopped for a second to admire the view, and was chastised by Aunty Lin. I picked up the pace and caught up with my guide. She took through some obscure route, and we ended up in a small room. She told me to wait and she disappeared through one of the doors.

The room was plain, and simply furnished.

She appeared as quickly as she vanished, she told me that I would start work immediately and handed me a loose yet comfy red maid's outfit.

I looked at her astonished; she just smiled at me and said that she had a good feeling about me.

She left me to change and came back when I had finished. She led me around this bend and that, and eventually we ended up in what was the west wing of the castle. There she introduced me to a girl a little older than myself. She smiled at us and left.

I looked at the girl, she had fair skin, and dark brown hair, and she looked nice enough. I smiled shyly and said, "Hi, my name is Katara."

She smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Yuri, come on, I'll show you what to do."

I nodded and she told me what my new job would be. My first order of business was to scrub the courtyard floors. She handed me a bucket and a brush and left me to it. I looked at the courtyard and started to scrub. It wasn't so bad, coz I used my water-bending for the difficult parts. It was almost three hours, and I was nearly done.

Then I heard it. A soft sweet tune was being whistled along the corridors. I recognised it as a water-tribe song and sang softly to the tune.

I was busy scrubbing and singing, so I didn't notice when the music stopped, and when a tall shadow threw itself across the floor.

The sound of a throat clearing alerted me to the shadow's presence. I snapped my head up, but my vision was impaired due to the sun creating a halo around the figures head.

I started to stand up, and I saw the figure take a step to the side.

It was prince Zuko…

Back it up to **earlier that day**

**Zuko's POV**

I woke up, like every morning, before the sun rose. The dream of last night was still playing in my mind.

I was at the banquet, and I was dancing with a girl. I couldn't see her face. Come to think of it, nobody had any facial features, except for the girl hovering at the edge of the ballroom. Her face was vaguely heart shaped, and her skin was like mocha. She lifted her head and smiled at me, I saw her eyes.

Blue.

They were familiar, but I couldn't place them. I sat for a bit, just thinking about my dream, and the beautiful girl from it.

She too seemed familiar, but again I came up blank. The sun was rising, so I sat to watch it. After a while, I felt peckish, so I got up and took a shower. I just stood there for a few minutes, letting the water pelt against my skin.

I scrubbed myself raw then I rinsed off and got out of the shower.

Today I was going to relax and practice my fire-bending, and have tea with my crazy tea-loving uncle.

Just the thought of him made me smile, out of my whole family, not including my mother; he is the only one I can actually trust.

I dressed casually, in my training attire, and headed down for breakfast. I didn't go to the dining room for breakfast; I went straight to the kitchen. I asked the chef for something simple, I ate slowly, and thanked the chef. I grabbed a small roll before I headed out to the training are; I took the route that saw me passing by the turtle duck pond. I stopped there and sat down then I tore small chunks of bread and threw them to the ducklings.

I watched as they fought among themselves before giving up and looking at me expectantly. I tore up more chunks, and threw them to the waiting birds.

My mother loved these creatures; she used to visit them everyday.

Once the bread was finished, I dusted my hands and said, "Look, no more. Its finished, but I'll be back tomorrow."

I knew that they wouldn't respond, but I said it anyway.

I got up and walked on until I came to the training area. Once there, I took a deep breathe, and…

**Hardcore fire-bending workout**

The sweat ran freely from my body, but I kept pushing. I practiced until I couldn't take it anymore, and then I stopped. I started to get up out of my stance, and walked out of the arena. I felt amazing, and oddly chipper; chipper enough to start whistling.

I whistled a tune that uncle had taught me. It was an old water tribe song, and it had a quiet melody.

I walked through the west corridors, and came out in the courtyard. It was being cleaned by a girl I had never seen before. I stopped whistling long enough to realise that she was singing the song I was whistling.

I walked slowly up to her, but she didn't seem to notice me, so cleared my throat. This seemed to shock her into looking up.

She squinted and tried to stand up; I guessed that the sun was shining in her eyes, so I moved out of the way. When she finally saw me, she froze and her eyes grew wide with surprise.

They were blue.

Suddenly, I realised who she was.

"You're the girl from the parade." I never thought I'd see her again.

"Prince Zuko! I umm, uh." She stuttered and wrung her hands.

She started to turn around and walk away, but I called for her to stop. She jumped when I put a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't turn around.

"That was beautiful, your singing I mean." She still didn't speak or turn around.

"Why won't you face me?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"You are part of the royal family, and as a servant, I have not the audacity or the liberty to speak directly to any of the members of the royal family." Her answer was straight forward and slightly cold.

"Well, if that is the case, then I order you to look at me." It was a low blow, but I was intrigued by this girl.

I saw her shoulders stiffen when I said 'order', but she slowly turned around to face me. I saw that her hair was a rich brown, and her face was that of the girl from my dream. This, I thought was very curious, considering I didn't know the girl, but it was true none the less.

She looked up at me and I caught the glint of thinly veiled contempt, but as quickly as it had come, it vanished.

I looked at her tilted my head to the side, "What is your name?"

"Katara, your Highness."

"Katara…" I tested it out, and liked how it felt rolling off my tongue.

It seemed as though she was trying very hard to not look at me, I tried to think of a reason for this, and I thought she was avoiding the scar on my face.

"Why do you avoid looking at me, is it because of my scar?"

Her head turned to me sharply, and looked me in the eyes, her voice was like ice, "With all due respect, it is not your scar I was avoiding your majesty, as I see no reason for avoidance. I am diverting my gaze out of courtesy since your highness isn't wearing a shirt. Furthermore, I am horrified that his majesty would accuse me of such superficial thinking, especially since his majesty knows so little about me to support such an accusation."

I had nothing to say, I had never been so thoroughly put in my place by a woman in all my 21 years. It was refreshing to hear something honest for a change.

"I see. Thank you for your honesty Katara."

She looked at me with suspicion and opened her mouth to speak.

"You mean you're not going to have me killed or deported or something?" her tone suggested disbelief, and slight sarcasm.

"Why would I do that?" I asked real curiosity lighting my thoughts.

"Because I spoke directly to you, and looked you in the eyes." She sounded unsure.

"Oh, I see, the not looking royalty in the eye thing is a myth, and the no speaking thing is also a myth, but in some instances it is applicable. This however doesn't apply."

She said nothing, but her lips made a small 'Oh'

I looked at her, and then I thought of the time, Uncle would be waiting for me. I was just about to excuse myself when a messenger boy trotted forward and announced that my uncle would be expecting me in the next 15 minutes.

I nodded at the boy and turned back to Katara.

"I must be going, goodbye Katara."

"Good bye…" she whispered it and moved aside to let me pass.

She was interesting; I spent the walk back to my room thinking about her.

I showered quickly and got ready for tea with Uncle.

**AN: longest chapter so far, hope you like it. Thank you to the people that reviewed you guys rock I will be working on chapter six, in the meantime, please R&R. thank you!**


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